‘Then your promise to do your best to get me an adequate salary seems doomed to disappointment,’ said Hugh.
‘I have already done my best without result,’ replied Abdullah. ‘I still have hopes, however.’
‘Oh, well,’ said Hugh calmly. ‘I haven’t signed their contract yet.’
The Principal looked at him rather anxiously.
‘Do you mean to say that you will refuse to sign the contract unless your salary is increased?’ he asked.
‘I don’t know yet – I shall have to think it over.’
‘But you accepted their grant for your travelling expenses, and came out with the knowledge of the remuneration they offered. Morally you have already accepted the contract!’
‘I also came out on the understanding which your promise gave me,’ said Hugh quietly.
‘You are placing me in a very invidious position, Captain Shannon.’
‘I have no intention of doing that. But you will admit that you said you thought you could persuade them to make an adequate increase!’
‘I know I did. Unfortunately I was foolish enough then to credit them with a greater sense of justice than they appear to possess. I have already wished once or twice that I had not left England.’
‘And you have been here—’
‘Just two weeks!’
Hugh smiled.
‘Oh, well,’ he said. ‘I’ll think things over. I certainly won’t let you down, Mr Abdullah, if I can help it.’
‘I am sure of that. I hope you are not in a hurry for your tiffin, as I have asked the staff to assemble in their common room to meet you?’
‘I would like to be introduced to them, of course,’ said Hugh.
‘Then will you come along with me?’
Abdullah led him along a corridor, and presently entered a large room, where some twenty-four men were collected. With the exception of two who wore European dress, they were clothed in the usual garb of Mahommedans – white baggy trousers, shirts which fell outside the nether garments and longish jackets. Most of them wore the red fez, but two had on large picturesque turbans.
As Mahommed Abdullah made a short speech of introduction, Hugh studied his future colleagues and came to the conclusion that he had seldom seen a more nondescript lot of individuals. They looked, in the majority of cases, a crude coarse lot, with dirty untrimmed beards, and gross heavy faces. The two in European clothes were of an entirely different stamp, and had an air of refinement about them which none of the others possessed. These two had been to England and were the proud possessors of English university degrees. One of them, a little man about five feet two inches in height caught Shannon’s eye, and he reflected that never in his life had he seen anybody quite so ugly. He had small eyes, a broad nose, with somewhat distended nostrils, and an ugly mouth, with thick heavy lips which made him look almost repugnant. It was obvious that his clothes were the factor which gave him the air of refinement, and he certainly knew how to wear them. The other was a nice-looking man of about twenty-five, who looked an athlete, and spoke with an Oxford drawl, though he had been at Cambridge. If his colour had been lighter he would easily have been mistaken for an Englishman.
Abdullah’s introduction over, they crowded round Hugh with various expressions of welcome. He liked the athletic man immediately, for he strode forward and shook hands with the firm clasp of the sportsman. Most of the others took Hugh’s hand with a jelly-fish sort of grip that was unwholesome. One of them, a fat elderly man with a walrus moustache and a series of chins, tried to monopolise him.
‘Of course you have not seen much of our country yet, Captain Shannon,’ he said, ‘but how do you like what you have seen?’
‘I was stationed out here while in the Army,’ said Hugh; ‘so I know a little about it!’
‘Then you speak Urdu perhaps?’
‘I am afraid I neglected my opportunities in that direction.’ Hugh, in consultation with Cousins, had decided to pretend that he did not know Hindustani. The fat man smiled in his greasy way.
‘No doubt you will learn the language?’
‘Probably,’ said Hugh.
The ugly little man then took possession of him. He spoke English well but with a peculiar emphasis on all prefixes.
‘I am Doctor Mumtaz Sadiq,’ he said, ‘head of the science department here. Perhaps you have heard of me?’
‘I am afraid I haven’t,’ said Hugh.
‘Indeed! You surprise me. I became quite well known during my research work in England. Of course I could have taken up an appointment, and in fact settled down there, but family matters demanded that I should return. Among other things I am an expert psychologist, doctor of philosophy, a barrister, and very nearly a qualified medical man. I don’t think there is anyone in India so well qualified as I!’
‘Are you also a policeman, a bus conductor, and a chauffeur?’ asked Hugh, with an appearance of bland interest.
Doctor Mumtaz Sadiq drew himself up to his full height, and looked indignant.
‘I was not joking, Captain Shannon,’ he declared. ‘I have all the qualifications I spoke of. It is difficult for me to decide whether I should continue in this entirely unsatisfactory post here, or take up a position more befitting my attainments.’
‘I should wait until the governorship of the Punjab becomes vacant, if I were you,’ said Hugh soothingly, and turned to Mahommed Abdullah.
‘If you are ready, Mr Abdullah,’ he said, ‘I think it is time I returned to tiffin.’
‘Certainly!’ replied the Principal. ‘Come along!’
As the car drew out of the College gates, Abdullah turned to Hugh inquiringly.
‘What do you think of the staff?’ he asked.
Hugh made a grimace. He gave a non-committal reply.
‘I think the athletic man is probably a good fellow,’ he said.
‘You mean Aziz? Yes, he is. He was educated in England, and is almost English. But what about the others?’
‘Do you want a candid reply?’
‘Certainly!’
‘Then I hope for the sake of the College that as professors they belie their looks.’
Abdullah laughed, then became serious.
‘I’m very much afraid they do not,’ he said. ‘They are part of a system of cram. Every one of them has obtained his degree by cramming up textbooks and notes. They have no initiative, no resource, no originality, and they pass on the same ideas to their students and dictate the self-same notes that were given to them. They encourage the wholesale memorising of pages and chapters of textbooks, and are satisfied when, in examinations, their words are repeated with parrot-like exactness.’
‘And is that the system of education out here?’ asked Hugh.
‘Unfortunately it is! I had hoped to be able, in my new capacity, to alter things, but already I begin to despair a little. What can one or two men do, when the same antiquated ideas are prevalent throughout the whole of the University, and no drastic measures are taken to cope with them. The students enter the examination room with their heads full of pages and pages of notes and texts. If they get a question the answer to which they have not learnt by heart, they cannot even attempt to answer it. If they get a question of which they have learnt the answer and a phrase or even a sentence eludes them, they are done. And you and I will not succeed in altering the habits which have been pushed into them from their primary school onwards.’
‘Isn’t it possible to engage professors with more up-to-date ideas?’
‘It is; and of course Government colleges possess some very fine men on their staffs, but the narrow-minded policy of our governing body is to get the cheapest man they can who has a degree. Always our results have been very poor, but what else can you expect from the average type of professor we possess. They do their best, but their best is hopeless. I doubt if more than two or three of them could pass a London Matriculation paper.’
‘How awful!’ said Hugh.
‘It is worse than awful. I ca
me out here with very big ideas, but already I am beginning to find them impracticable. I have three men on my staff with English degrees and ideas above cram; you are one, Aziz is another, Sadiq is the third, but Sadiq will not settle down to his work. He is always thinking that his great attainments, as he loves to call them, would be of more use in another sphere; he does not know his own mind and is a bad case of swollen head. There remain you, Aziz and me; we can accomplish a lot, but we are too handicapped to do much.’
Abdullah spoke with great feeling, and Hugh felt very sorry for him. He could just imagine how the other had accepted the post of Principal with the high hope that he could do much for the advancement of Mahommedan education, and how bitterly disappointed he must have been to find the almost insurmountable obstacles in his path. Hugh decided that his own situation had become very difficult; and with his other job before him, he was going to be placed in a very unenviable position.
The car drew up in front of the Punjab Hotel, and Shannon alighted. He stood watching Abdullah, as he drove away.
‘Rotten luck!’ he murmured. ‘He seems such a good chap, too.’
He had to explain to Joan why he was so late, and she and Cousins listened with interest to his description of the morning’s doings. They laughed when he told them about the professors.
‘Oh, surely, Hugh,’ said the girl, ‘they are not as bad as all that?’
‘Every bit,’ he replied; ‘in fact, I have rather flattered them than otherwise.’
‘What a dreadful lot they must be!’
‘They are!’ he said grimly.
After lunch he had a consultation with Cousins.
‘I am puzzled how to set about our job,’ he said. ‘We have come out here with a lot of ideas and suspicions, but without the slightest tangible point to go upon. What do you suggest?’
‘Well of course you must become a member of the club as soon as possible. That is essential! In the first place a club in India is the centre of gossip, and it is likely that you may pick up something there. Secondly it is necessary for Miss Shannon, because she will never have any friends unless you are a member – the idea being that those not inside the sacred portals of the club must necessarily be outsiders! For my part I will make acquaintances among the rank and file, and do my best that way. I have already made myself known to a couple of fellows this morning.’
‘You haven’t lost any time,’ grinned Hugh. ‘Who are they?’
‘Nobody of any account I’m afraid. The manager of Edgar and Watson, chemists, and a sergeant of police named Spink.’
‘Did you cable that we had arrived?’
‘Yes!’
‘Perhaps we will receive some instructions in a day or two. I wonder what happened to Kamper?’
‘I wish I knew,’ said Cousins. ‘That man raises a mildly inquiring curl on my forehead every time I think of him.’
‘When Hudson comes you had better watch him as closely as possible. He may lead us somewhere, though I’m afraid if he is in league with the Soviet, he will make it exceedingly warm for us. In fact, Lahore is likely to be rather dangerous.’
Cousins shrugged his shoulders.
‘A little danger might make it attractive,’ he said.
‘Don’t you like it?’
‘Not a little bit. Lahore is a splendid place to make one reflect what a glorious country England is.’
Hugh laughed.
‘You’ve been very quick in forming an opinion,’ he remarked.
‘I formed most of it yesterday, and consolidated it this morning. Of course there are some places worse.’
‘I like what I have seen of it.’
‘Including Sheranwala College?’
Hugh made a grimace.
‘No; the College is rather a blot!’ he said.
Cousins took out a pipe and filled it.
‘I wonder if it would be possible to get a complete list of the members of the club,’ he said.
‘What do you want it for?’
‘We might find out the antecedents of every member and make a list of any doubtful ones.’
‘Good Lord, man, that would take ages! Besides I don’t see how it would help. The people we are after may not belong to the club.’
‘I think they will. They wouldn’t lose an opportunity of getting in with the social life, and if they kept outside they would be far more likely to be regarded as questionable characters. I am going to try to get that list anyhow.’
‘You have a job before you, and my sympathies! You don’t expect the secretary to hand such a thing over to a complete stranger, do you?’
‘I have no intention of asking the secretary, my lad.’
‘Then how do you propose to set about it?’
‘Money talks! Though it doesn’t always answer when it’s spoken to,’ he added.
‘I see. You favour bribery and corruption?’
The little man nodded.
‘It is a favourite pastime in this country,’ he said. ‘And when in Rome do as Rome does. At any rate I do not intend to sit down and twiddle my thumbs, do you?’
‘Certainly not! But I’ve got to think a bit before I do anything definite!’
‘Well, I don’t suppose the Chief expects us to buzz around without any idea what we are buzzing about. Still I hate doing nothing even in these early days. Ex nihilo nihil fit!’
Hugh looked at him suspiciously, and with a smile he got up, and went out of the room.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Cousins is Enterprising
Hugh lost no time in making acquaintances, and within a fortnight he had the satisfaction of being nominated as a member of the club. The committee meeting was due in a few days, when his and Joan’s names would be put up and the nomination ratified. In the meantime he went daily to his work at Sheranwala College, and began to get on well with the students. He was less successful with the professors. Most of them he found were very harmless, though not at all the type of men with whom he had anything in common, and they seemed to think that flattery would make them popular with him. There was a system of toadyism among some of them with the higher authorities which nauseated him, and in consequence he avoided them as much as possible.
After some consideration he signed the contract which was duly stamped-to his disgust he found that he was expected – to pay for the stamp – and Abdullah reiterated his promise to do all in his power to get the salary increased. Thus he became a fully sworn member of the staff. Among the students he discovered a few with the characteristics of gentlemen, but the majority were quite the opposite. They loved to crowd round him and talk to him, laughing immoderately at the vaguest witticism, run errands for him, and generally do all in their power to curry favour with a view to future profit for themselves. They all looked upon an Englishman in the College as a decided asset, not so much for what they expected to learn from him, as for what he might be able to do for them in the way of obtaining posts in the future. He had not been in the College for more than three days when he was asked for testimonials, and several of them visited the hotel with gifts of fruit, and left cards with their names written upon them so that he might remember them always.
The Indian mind is subtle, but not so subtle that Hugh could not see the purpose that underlay all the extravagant flattery and popularity which suddenly came upon him. He, with Joan and Cousins, laughed many times about it, and the students, and others, would have been surprised had they heard the opinions that were frankly expressed about them.
Cousins, by some means known only to himself, had managed to bribe one of the Indian clerks at the club to make out a full list of regular male members with their professions and addresses, and he spent several days in finding out as much as he could about the doubtful ones. Of course a large proportion were military and police officers and these were passed by. On the Friday he came to Hugh as the latter was preparing to go out, and triumphantly waved a sheet of paper at him.
‘Here I have a list of doubtfuls,’ he
said. ‘There are seventeen of them, and the eight with crosses against their names are very doubtfuls.’
‘What constitutes a doubtful?’ asked Hugh.
‘No visible means of support; that is to say they appear to live by their wits. The eight very doubtfuls are either foreigners or of foreign origin.’
‘Good Lord! You’re a wonder!’
‘Dear me! Have you only just discovered that very apparent fact? Why I’ve known it for a long time!’
Hugh studied the paper carefully.
‘Who are the two at the bottom?’ he asked.
‘Ah! They are the tit-bits, the chefs d’oeuvres so to speak!’
‘What? Extremely doubtfuls?’
‘No; they are not doubtfuls at all. They happen to be men of wide affluence, authority and importance. The first is the head of a large mercantile firm, and the second the principal of one of the colleges.’
‘Then why are they on this list?’
‘Do their names convey nothing to you?’
Hugh looked at the paper again.
‘Novar and Rahtz,’ he said ‘They’re foreign names, of course!’
‘My son, they are Russians both of them!’
‘How do you know?’
‘Because they make no attempt to hide their nationality, and are registered as such. But that is not the chief point. This is where I come to the climax of my story, as the novelists say. They are the two men whom I saw with Hudson at Bombay!’
‘Good Lord!’ exclaimed Hugh, and sat down.
‘Ah,’ said Cousins, with deep satisfaction. ‘I have made my point!’
‘But how did you find this out?’
‘I spent some time waiting outside the house of each, and was rewarded by seeing them, when of course I recognised them.’
‘By Jove! This is better! We are beginning to move.’
Devil's Cocktail (Wallace of the Secret Service Series) Page 9